As an adult rheumatology nurse with nearly 15 years in the field, I have a certain comfort level when educating patients who have been newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). I get a lot of the same questions over and over—“Will I be deformed?” or “Will I end...
The RNS is pleased to announce that the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation recently reviewed our application for re-accreditation as a provider of continuing nursing education. On September 24, 2018, the Commission has officially...
Many years ago, in the pre-biologics era, a diagnosis of antibody-positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in children was rather tragic, often foretelling a future of significant joint deformities, disability, and chronic pain. Often, parents or grandparents of my current...
Lupus is a chronic disease that requires long-term care, which can pose a significant challenge to the patient and health care team. There are many epidemiologic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial factors that come into play that make this a complicated disease to...
It’s a question that I have considered from time to time in my nursing career—in a patient with severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who also develops end-stage renal disease (ESRD), can the patient’s SLE ever go into remission? As with many clinical questions,...
I still vividly remember the day we received the news that WS had passed away at the age of 32. A regular patient we had been seeing for more than a decade, it had been less than 1 month since WS’ last appointment at our clinic. We had gotten to know her...
Pediatric rheumatology not only requires close attention to detail when it comes to direct patient care but also effective collaboration with a variety of other sub-specialists. We commonly consult specialists in nephrology, gastrointestinal disease, ophthalmology,...
Every healthcare provider knows that lupus is the great imposter. One day, it can affect one organ; the next, a whole different system can be targeted. One lupus patient I have been treating for more than a year has traversed a difficult path since the day I saw her,...
HL was 19 years old when she was transferred from a pediatric rheumatology practice into our adult practice. Her medical and social history was messy. In the foster care system since the age of 12 years old, HL had been diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus...
New patient referrals are always exciting (at least to me). It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Sometimes, you find all of the pieces right away and are able to figure out the whole picture pretty easily. Other times, you realize that you are missing a few...